How to Protect Your Invention From Theft When Pitching It (2024)

FAQs

How to Protect Your Invention From Theft When Pitching It? ›

To protect your interests, consider two common strategies employed by inventors, amateur and professional alike. First, you can file a provisional patent application (if your invention is patentable). Second, you can use a nondisclosure agreement (regardless of whether it is patentable).

A patent protects an invention by allowing its inventor — or the group who owns the patent — control over who may use the invention. Patent applications are adjudicated by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and are valid for 20 years.

You Should File a Patent Application Before You Pitch to Investors. As discussed above, you start to forfeit important patent rights when you make a public disclosure, public use, or offer for sale of your technology.

But in pitching the invention to potential licensees, you run the risk of disclosing so much information that the invention might be stolen or no longer be protected by law. Put differently, the company to which you are pitching your idea could turn around and steal it, without paying you any royalties.

As soon as you file a patent application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), your invention is "Patent Pending." Once your application is submitted, nobody can steal, sell, or use your invention without your permission. If this happens, they are infringing on your patent, assuming it gets issued.

The bottom line: If a thief steals and patents your invention, you can sue the thief and have ownership of the patent transferred to you.

Design patents can protect the design of a wide range of products, from cars to computers. Once your design patent application receives approval, you will have rights to your design for 14 years and will be able to stop other people from copying your design.

Need Help? A patent attorney will usually charge between $8,000 and $10,000 for a patent application, but the cost can be higher. In most cases, you should budget between $15,000 and $20,000 to complete the patenting process for your invention.

Can I sell my invention without a patent? ›

No. You are not required to obtain a patent in order to sell a product or service embodying your invention. Many products and services are sold that are not patented. A U.S. patent provides the right to stop others from making marketing, selling, or importing your invention in the United States.

It could be your inner circle of friends and family that you want to ask of their opinions about your idea. If you're considering filing for a patent or other intellectual property, you may want to hire a professional patent attorney or agent.

Use Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs)

An NDA is a common way to protect confidential information, and it can be useful for protecting your pitch deck as well. You can ask investors, potential partners, or anyone else you share your pitch deck with to sign an NDA before you share your pitch deck.

Once the invention becomes public, competitors may find ways to improve the invention and file a patent based on those improvements! Therefore, scientists must ensure they file a patent application first and then publish it in an academic journal.

154 to provide that the term of a patent (other than a design patent) begins on the date the patent issues and ends on the date that is twenty years from the date on which the application for the patent was filed in the United States or, if the application contains a specific reference to an earlier filed application ...

Patents are necessary to protect your invention and keep it from being stolen and replicated. To enforce a patent and take down anyone stealing your idea, you'll need this legal registration in your IP portfolio.

What is Plagiarism? to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own • to use (another's production) without crediting the source • to commit literary theft • to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source. In other words, plagiarism is an act of fraud.

If you're planning to manufacture and sell your product yourself, a patent can help you justify your investment in design, production, and marketing. If you are manufacturing and selling your product yourself, a patent can give you a comfortable of lead time over those who might knock of" your product.

A U.S. utility patent, explained above, is generally granted for 20 years from the date the patent application is filed; however, periodic fees are required to maintain the enforceability of the patent.

Can I sell my product while patent is pending? ›

Patents that have been filed but not yet approved have patent pending status. You can use your pending patent to make, sell, and license the product during this time. Patent pending is the term used to describe a patent application that has been filed with the patent office, but has not issued as a patent.

A poor man's patent is essentially writing out a description of your invention and then mailing that written description to yourself. This postmarked envelope supposedly acts to create the date of your invention as the date this written description was postmarked.

The federal government is under no obligation to compensate an inventor for his or her creation. However, some may attempt to sue the government for compensation or damages. It is then up to the court to determine if the case is valid and if anything should be provided to the owner of the patent.

The inventor owns the rights to the invention unless the inventor assigns the invention to a company. Typically, engineers would assign their inventions to their company as a condition for employment. With a start-up, the founder may hold the patent rights personally.

“People take, right? But you can't sue them over it unless you've registered with the copyright office,” says Lehman. If you're concerned someone may infringe upon your original work, the best way to protect your rights is to register with the copyright office.

Copyright law assigns ownership of a piece of work to the person who actually created the work. That means it automatically belongs to the designer. Any change to that ownership depends on the terms set out in your contract.

In a case of copyright infringement, if a designer sold a copyrighted image to a client, the legal owner of the image will have to take legal action against the client. The client can then take legal action against the designer for providing this image in the first place. Your lawyer can be your hero.

The licensee will then produce and sell the product, making you money. A patent's sale price depends on its value. The value of a patent will vary depending on its complexity. A simple utility patent will cost around $1,000, while a highly competitive patent can cost up to $15,000 or more.

This rumor gets passed around a lot, but it's sadly false. United States copyright law offers no official protection for a poor man's copyright. While you might be able to prove that you created it first, you need to be the first to file in order to get full protection.

If you happen to find a manufacturer that is interested in your invention, there are usually two options. You can sell your invention idea, or you can outright sell the invention itself for one large lump sum as compensation for your idea. The second option is to enter a licensing agreement.

What inventions Cannot be patented? ›

(m) Mental act, rule or method is not an invention.

Explanation- playing a game such as chess, sudoku etc are not considered as inventions rather these are mere brain exercises and hence are not patented.

Royalties on patents allow the person paying the royalty to use the invention of the patent owner. A patent owner has the right to prevent other people from using their invention, and they also have the ability to license their invention for a fee known as a royalty.

Licensing or assigning rights to your invention is likely to be a simpler, less expensive route than manufacturing and selling it. Licensing or assigning your invention is often preferable for inventors who want to make money, but care primarily about innovating and spending time in the office or lab.

Amazon.com does not accept any legal obligation (whether of confidentiality, compensation, return or otherwise) with respect to any ideas, proposals, concepts, suggestions or materials submitted to us unless we agree to such obligations in a signed document.

To protect your invention, you must apply for a patent. Unlike copyrights, there is no such thing as an automatic patent. Obtaining a patent can be slow and costly, taking up to 2 years and costing thousands of dollars.

Can someone legally steal your idea? ›

Under US Copyright law, you cannot sue if someone stole your idea. Copyright law does not protect ideas. It only protects the expression of that idea. So the first thing you need to do is to fix your work in a tangible medium of expression (e.g., saving your work in Microsoft Word).

Most investors that you will be pitching to, like for example accredited investors, institutionalized investors like venture capital or angel investors that are well-known in the industry – those kinds of investors aren't there to steal your idea. That's not what they do.

It is perfectly legal in the United States to choose to let your invention go unused for the entire period of the patent. If someone uses your invention without your permission, you are entitled to stop their use of the invention by seeking a legal injunction in Federal court.

No. You are not required to obtain a patent in order to sell a product or service embodying your invention. Many products and services are sold that are not patented. A U.S. patent provides the right to stop others from making marketing, selling, or importing your invention in the United States.

There are four main types of business ideas protection: Patent, trademark, copyright and design registered.